Stones And Bread

Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:15-16, NIV

HAVE YOU EVER tried to make your own bread?

Not actual bread, though that has its unique challenges, but the kind that Satan tempted Jesus to make while He was fasting in the desert for forty days—when His stomach was beyond hungry and there were only stones and dry land surrounding him.

The enemy challenged Jesus’ identity as the Son of God in that moment by testing Him to turn the stones into bread. You can almost feel his hot breath: If you’re the Son of God, provide for yourself, Jesus. Don’t trust your Father to provide for you. Make your own bread.

Author Russell Moore describes this very concept in his book Tempted and Tried. He says one of the biggest temptations presented to every man and woman on a regular basis is to make their own bread. To go for what they really desire. To make what they want to happen, happen, and forget about God as their provider.^a

This temptation is as old as time. It slithered through Eden, crept through deserts, and coiled itself in palaces, just like that of Queen Esther’s.

Esther was beautiful. She was chosen by the king and given favor in the palace. When her cousin sent word that her people, the Jews, were in danger of a holocaust, he begged her to use her position as queen to ask the king to spare them. But instead of marching right into the king’s presence and demanding protection for her people, Esther waited. She fasted. She found grace in the face of the grave.

She could have tried to create her own solution and provide for herself, her cousin, her nation. She could have tried to turn stones into bread. Instead, she fasted. Grace on Queen Esther was a gorgeous gown of trust. Just as Jesus did in the desert, she depended on God to provide. And God answered by saving her people from harm.

Aren’t we standing in our own deserts? Can we trust God to provide sleep in the face of a waking baby every two hours? Can we trust God to provide a husband in the face of singleness? Can we trust God to provide a job in the face of unemployment?

Esther shows us how. We can trust God to make bread for us. We don’t need to knead a situation anymore. We can let God be King.

Esther’s strength surfaced in the middle of desperation. She communed with the King as she waited on His provision. And He gave her favor. He gave her grace. He gave her Himself.

GRACE REFLECTION: Pray with me, “God, I confess that I often try to make my own bread rather than trust in You. When I am tempted to find my own way, help me to turn to You instead and ask for Your goodness and provision.”